Outsourced Assistance
by MCPO M-061
Summary: When Team Machine is pinned down, their ASI enlists the help of a stranger to save their lives. Sort of AU one-shot.


**Hello reader!**

**So, I was rewatching Person of Interest and when I was finished watching ****Season 4 Episode 11 (If-Then-Else), this idea popped into my head...so I wrote it down and it seems to have turned out ok.**

**This is intended as a one-shot AU...ish version of events at the end of If-Then-Else. If I get more ideas about other stuff that happens later on in the series, I might add to it. Maybe.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**MCPO M-061**

Nate Burns despised his life with a passion that not many could meet. He stumbled down Wall Street, cold from the previous night still embedded in his bones, watching as people scrambled to watch the Stock Market feed. He didn't know much about what had just happened but judging by how people were watching with despair and apprehension, he knew it wasn't good.

A few feet away, a random passerby answered a call on an old analogue phone before her eyes widened and she looked at Nate. She tentatively walked over, and he watched her with curiosity.

"I-it's for you," she said softly and handed him the phone.

Nate frowned and gently took the phone from her.

"_Can you hear me?"_ a distorted robotic voice said.

"Yes," Nate replied, keeping it simple.

"_Stock Exchange. Service elevator, sub-level six,"_ the voice said, _"Weapons, stairwell bin. Assets, Admin and Analog Interface, termination imminent, 12 o clock. Identify as Thornhill, Asset. Hostiles, 3 o'clock. Hurry. Please."_

Nate paused as the call ended. He could have sworn that the voice had just pleaded with him. Nate handed back the phone and thanked the woman before headed into the Stock Exchange.

As a former Navy SEAL turned Office of Naval Intelligence operator, Nate knew a few things about combat and undetected entry techniques. Slipping past the security and gaining access to the stairwell took him no time at all.

As he reached the 5th sub-level, he saw a bin and cocked his head, checking it. Inside was a civilian issue AR15 and a Sig Sauer P226 Mk25 with a belt filled with extra magazines. Nate slipped the belt on after ditching some of his grubby outer layers and checked his new weapons before continuing down. As he exited onto Sub Level Six, he saw four people pinned in the doorway. The sound of gunfire came from his right around the corner from the elevator.

The group noticed him and before they started shooting, Nate stepped out from the corner and opened fire on the designated hostiles. Headshots reigned supreme as he strafed over to meet his supposed allies.

"Thornhill, Asset," he said and the one with glasses looked quite shocked.

"What?" he asked as Nate checked his magazine.

"I don't know, some robotic voice on some random lady's old flip-phone asked me to come down here and help," Nate shrugged and leaned out to snap off a trio of headshots before turning to them, "Anyway, the name's Nate Burns. So, I take it the plan is to get you to the elevator and get you the hell out of this firefight?"

A gunshot rang out and the black-suited man dove in front of his four-eyed friend, taking a round to the shoulder. Nate turned and unleased a group of shots that sent the attacker to the ground. Nate stepped out again and dumped his mag into hostile soldier heads and door beams to try and suppress any more for a few seconds before he ducked back.

"You ok?" he asked as he reloaded and dropped a few more over-enthusiastic attackers.

"He will be," the man with the glasses replied.

"Shaw are you busy?" the woman at the doorway asked as she returned fire.

"Well, I was," another female voice said as she noticed Nate gunning down attackers with prefect headshots, "You guys look like crap. Who's he?"

"Nate," the former ONI operator said gruffly.

The woman nodded and the woman at the doorway cried out as a bullet grazed her arm. It missed Nate by millimetres, and he returned fire, killing everyone he could see.

"Good thing I borrowed a little something from my friend in the bomb vest," Shaw grinned and tossed two sticks of explosives through before firing at it.

The explosives acted as a smoke grenade and blinded their attackers.

"Move!" Nate hissed and surged out, firing away into the smoke.

The group stumbled across and into the elevator as Nate rolled clear to reload. Glasses tried to get the lift working but it wasn't having it.

"What?" he asked.

"There's a manual override," Nate heard Shaw say.

"Sameen, if you even think…" the other woman started before Shaw turned on her and kissed her.

As Shaw moved forward, Nate brought the gate crashing down and locked it much to their shock.

"Just promise me one thing," he said and dropped a few more attackers, "Make the most of the time you have."

They nodded mutely, shocked by what had just happened as Nate went for the button. He pressed it and emptied the last of his last magazine into attackers before dropping the rifle and starting with his sidearm. The heavy outer doors closed and the team inside breathed a sigh of relief.

Nate, on the other hand, fought as a man possessed. He had used his last few rounds carefully and made sure they counted before tossing the Sig and scavenging weapons off the dead bodies. Eventually, only two were left and Nate had ended up with a Glock that only had half a magazine left.

"Surrender and your death will be quick," the woman shouted.

"How about you surrender, and I let you live?" Nate shouted back as the man peeked around to fire off some shots.

Nate returned them in kind only to run out of ammo. He swore and scanned for a useful weapon but found none.

Suddenly, his pocket vibrated, and he pulled out a phone that wasn't his. On the screen was a text message that told him to check his left. Nate did so to find a dead attacker with an extra gun tucked in pants.

"Thanks," Nate muttered as he drew it.

"Tell you what," the man spoke, his accent British, "I know you just used up the last of your ammo and since I have none left, why don't we settle this with regular old fists?"

"Is your partner planning on tossing her gun over, so I can empty it for her?" Nate tossed back and received a storm of bullets followed by a hollow click.

"I can empty a gun on my own," she said, and the weapon clacked to the floor.

Nate tucked his newly acquired one in his pants and poked his head out a little. Both stood there, weaponless, and waited for him. He stepped out to join them.

"I wish I could say it was a pleasure," Nate started as the woman stepped forward.

Unfortunately for her, Nate was fast and dodged her incoming strike. He retaliated with a flawless takedown and promptly grabbed her neck before twisting and shattering her neck.

"That was…" the man gulped as he kept his hands visible.

"Brisk?" Nate supplied, "I know. I was trained to be."

"What happens now?" the man asked.

"Any more of you?" Nate asked and the man gestured to the bodies.

"That was all of them," he said with irritation.

Nate nodded.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked Nate in his bored British drawl.

Nate simply drew the Glock and put two rounds the man's chest faster than the man could blink. Said man gasped and fell to his knees as his vital organs started shutting down.

"I think this is pretty self-explanatory," Nate shrugged and fired another round, this time into the man's head.

Nate turned to leave but paused and double-tapped the blonde agent in the head before finishing off as many of the others as possible. When the gun was empty, he dropped it and pulled out his phone.

"I don't suppose I'm going to be safe now," he said, and the phone buzzed with a text message, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Tell your Admin, Analog Interface and Assets or whatever you call them that they're welcome for the assistance and if they need back up, they should have my new number."

The phone buzzed again, and Nate chuckled.

"Copy that," Nate said and left the sub-level, pocketing the phone and not looking back at the staggering number of bodies he had left behind as he collected a grenade from one of the fallen attackers.

On his way out, Nate pulled the pin and tossed it back, whistling as he started jogging up the stairs. The enormous thump and shake that followed put a smile on his face and Nate Burns disappeared into the crowd that had gathered outside the Stock Exchange.


End file.
